[Discussion] PUBL.- Black Sea Politics- Political Culture & Civil Society in an Unstable Region

[gpultar@cstgroup.org]

From: Hayriye Kahveci <hkahveci@metu.edu.tr>


PUBL.:
Black Sea Politics- Political Culture & Civil Soc'ty in an Unstable Region

Editors: Ayse Ayata, Ayca Ergun, Isil Celimli

Publisher: IB Tauris
Date: September 23, 2005
Number of Pages: 256
Language: English
ISBN: 1845110358
Hardcover

This work brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines on the Black
Sea Region vitally important in current international relations for Europe,
Russia and the Near East, offering fresh perspective combining regional
'insiders' and 'outsider' international experts. If ideas of 'civil society'
democratisation are Western in nature then how should one examine these trends
in a non-Western society? This book presents a variety of experiences of civil
society, looking at representation, participation and power relations in
countries such as the Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Caucasus area. It is a
rare combination of 'insider' perspectives of regional experts and the
'outsider' views of international experts.

Table of Contents
List of Tables
Preface
Ayse Gunes-Ayata
Introduction
Ayse Gunes-Ayata, Ayca Ergun, Isil Celimli


Part I ­ Black Sea as a Region of Study

"Frontier-Function & Civil Society: The Black Sea World in the Past and Its
Prospects for the Future" by Eyup Ozveren

Abstract:

This article suggests that the concept of "civil society," at a time when the
whole heritage of modernity is coming under heavy attack from all sides, not
only remains immune to criticisms, but also enjoys a resurrection from the very
ashes of modernity itself. The author also claims that the two heydays of the
concept, approximately two centuries apart, might have something to do with the
seemingly chaotic similarity between the eras of the making and unmaking of a
paradigmatic world order. Through a simultaneous effort of bringing in
analytical conceptions of both the Black Sea as a region, and the term civil
society, this paper attempts to explain the very conditions that lead to the
existence or non-existence of civil society as a subset of the society from a
critical standpoint.



"Interregional Cooperation between the EU and BSEC" by Tunc Aybak

Abstract:

The main aim of this article is to offer a sketch of the Black Sea region
vis-a-vis the globalization process taking place in Europe. In doing so, the
paper will address issues such as the place of Black Sea in the European
regional political economy, the characteristics of the Black Sea as a new type
of regionalism, the relevance of the regional cooperation to the enlargement of
the European Union, and the availability of policy options and alternatives to
the asymmetrical interdependence between the Black Sea Regional Cooperation and
the EU. The article defines Europe in the widest sense as an expanding
negotiation space within which new boundaries, layers of governance, flows and
new networks are interacting with each other within and beyond the control of
the states. The paper also argues that the Black Sea Regional Cooperation offers
an overall policy framework to extend pan-European governance to manage the
increasing but unstable asymmetrical interdependence between the EU and the
Black Sea region. The author argues that the successful management of
interdependence between the EU and the Black Sea begs some policy questions such
as the boundary definitions, the flows of energy and human labour and the policy
interdependence.



Part II ­ Representation, Participation and Elections

"Parties and Electorates in Ukraine: Cultivating the Grass-Roots" by Sarah Birch

Abstract:

This chapter addresses the development of the party system in Ukraine with
reference to the strategies employed by parties to cultivate grass-roots support
bases. Some commentators have discerned a partisan configuration in Ukraine
similar to that found in many Western countries and have noted a recent rise in
party identification. Others, however, content that Ukraine has no genuine
parties at all or no real party system, with the implication that parties are
therefore not important in Ukrainian politics. Questioning both these views,
this chapter argues that parties are increasingly important in Ukrainian
politics but their nature as organizations and the role they play differ
fundamentally from those in the established democracies of the West. One of the
key questions is how parties structure their relations with the electorate in
order to win votes at the time of elections. Popular cynicism and
disillusionment with parties in general have hampered efforts to cultivate party
identification of the type found in western societies. At the same time most
parties are too poorly resourced and too weakly connected with channels of state
patronage to be able to establish reliable party "machines". Perceptions of lack
of party accountability for policy limit the credibility of appeals to
policy-based voting. This combination of factors presents parties with a
difficult task at election time. This chapter explores how they approach the
electorate and which strategies have proved most successful.



"Transitional Politics, Political Marketing and Civic Society: The Case of the
2000 Elections in Romania" by Luciana Maria Salagean & Stephen Blackwell

Abstract:

By looking at the case of 2000 elections in Romania, this paper argues that the
campaign devised by the Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR), the governing
political alliance, was central to the poor performance of the alliance in the
elections. As well as seeking to provide an explanation of the failure of the
CDR marketing strategy, this paper also examines the way in which marketing
techniques play an increasingly important role in Romanian electoral politics.
It also suggests conclusions that may be applicable to other former communist
countries undergoing a period of transitional reform.  Through new techniques of
political marketing winning a political campaign is as much a question of
advertising as it is of a political program. In contemporary societies,
political doctrine needs the support of the economic and psychological methods
used for promoting products. More efficient political publicity in theory will
help to diminish those elements within Romanian political culture that seek to
exploit extremism and fanatical nationalism. Better presentation will also
"demystify" the political process and undermine the authoritarian tendencies
within Romanian politics.



"The Evolution of the Multiparty System in Ukraine: Prelude to a Robust
Democracy?" by Olga Kesarchuk

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to analyze of how and why political parties were formed
in Ukraine, as well as how the multiparty system works in the country. The
article also attempts to explain why Ukrainian parties do not carry out the
function of intermediaries between the citizens and the state organs. The
article focuses on some of the challenges facing the multiparty system in
Ukraine among which are the underdeveloped nature of the democratic system in
terms of not having sufficient backgrounds, small numbers of constituencies, the
concentration of the electorate mainly in big cities, the non-existence of an
adequate legal framework, the atomized nature of the political arena, and
finally the vagueness in the party programs and political immaturity. The
article argues that one of the problems the Ukrainian political system faces
today is the distorted relationship between the society and the state. As the
concluding remarks, the author suggests that the improvement of the legislative
basis that regulates formation of parties and their activities and the
improvement of the political culture of the society would provide grounds for
the progress of the political system as a whole.



Part III - Civil Society and Its Organizations

"Democratization from Below: The Role of Civil Society in Azerbaijan" by Ayca
Ergun

Abstract:

The chapter focuses on the "society" part of democratization in post-Soviet
Azerbaijan, primarily on the dynamics which take place in society with specific
reference to social organizations, umbrella groups and political parties. It
identifies the nature of the civil society, the aims and activities of social
organizations and umbrella groups, their relations with each other, with the
state and international governmental and non-governmental organizations, and
their roles in the process of democratization. The formation of civil society in
Azerbaijan is greatly influenced by patterns of continuity inherited from the
Soviet rule and by patterns of change introduced by the regime change. After
independence, civil society actors emerged and penetrated a context where
authoritarian practices, clientelism, family networks, regionalism and a
tendency for one-man rule were institutionalized. The chapter argues that the
formation of civil society in Azerbaijan does not succeed but precedes
democratization while constituting a milieu where the question of how to
democratize is debated. It is the main force, stimulating, provoking and
challenging the regime.



"Civil Society ­ a Key Element of the Post-Cold-War Zeitgeist: Civic Society
Structure in Bulgaria" by Elena Triffonova

Abstract:

Relying on the definition of civil society made by Martin Shaw, that is a sphere
of association in society in distinction to the state, involving a network of
institutions through which society and groups within it represent themselves in
cultural, ideological and political senses", this paper attempts to analyze the
evolution and structure of the non-governmental sector in Bulgaria. The author
addresses the issues that challenge the formation of the sector. Among these
issues are: lack of democratic tradition in civic representation, clientelistic
relationships based on kinship, and low civic activity at the grassroots level.



"The Civiliarchic Transformation of Civil Society in Armenia: Civiliologic
Discourse" by Ashot S. Alexanyan

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to introduce the concept of civiliarchy and to discuss
the very context it could breed and function more efficiently. Civiliarchy
creates the exact elements, which involve the axis of the international
geopolitical strategy, global or transnational civil society institutions,
promotion of democracy in the "nation-states." The civil societies of Black Sea
region are faced with the challenge of self-preservation, self-development and
mutual conditionality as a result of their global geo-historical unity. The
tendencies of real cooperation between the institutions of regional civil
societies promote the establishment of tolerance, solidarity, mutual control,
plural identity and creation of inter-civilization dialogue. In such systems,
the dominant role belongs not so much to the state, but to the subjects of civil
society - civilizations and integrators. In the inter-institutional systems of
civil society there are "common humanitarian elements" or "common civil spheres"
where it is possible to obtain the goals of life quality standards, human
rights, social justice, scientific, educational and legal systems,
communications, some other ecological and civilization principles as much as
possible, and also to develop consensus mechanisms for providing "civil
prosperity." In the conditions of mutual action and improvement of regional
civic societal actors the role of civiliarchy increases.



"The Constitution of the Civil Sector in Bulgaria after 1989: Between Business
Enterprise and Civic Participation" by Petya Kabakchieva

Abstract:

The paper analyzes the difficult emancipation of the Bulgarian civil society
after the political change in 1989 and its specific characteristics from the
viewpoint of institutional culture it expresses and creates. The main thesis
defended is that the contemporary civil sector in Bulgaria is mostly a Western
product, because it is constituted as a result of international donors"
programs. This specific character has both positive and negative consequences.
The positive one is that NGOs act as subjects of a global institutional culture
and they serve as mediators between this culture and paternalistic oriented
etatist Bulgarian political culture, changing the latter in the direction of the
former. The negative result is that as they include highly educated
professionals, intellectual and political elites, they become more elitist and
more money oriented, and they act more as business consultant firms than as
civil agents, defending specific interests, rights and enhancing civil
participation.



Part IV - Power Relations

"The Predicament of Civil Society in Post-Soviet Russia: Dynamics of Media
Politics" by Oktay F. Tanrisever

Abstract:

This paper aims to examine the problems the development of civil society in
post-Soviet Russia through the prism of the relations between the state and the
media. The main argument of the paper is that the increasing state pressure on
independent media in Russia seems to mark an authoritarian turn in Russian
politics that could have negative implications for the development of civil
society. This paper discusses the relations between media and civil society in
the context of post-Soviet Russia. It, then, examines the evolution of
independent media in the post-Soviet Russia, focusing on a triangular
relationship among the state, the business elite, and the media during Boris
Yeltsin period. Next, the paper discusses Putin's policy of pressuring the
independent media in the name of curtailing the powers of some members of the
business elite. The paper concludes by exploring whether the civil society in
Russia was strong enough to shield the independent media and the freedom of
speech from Putin"s authoritarian perspective.



"Social Power and Post-Soviet Economic Transformation" by Neil Robinson

Abstract:

Democratization and economic transformation were supposed to be mutually
supporting in post-Soviet states. Evidence from Eastern Europe indicates that
democratization and progress in economic reform are powerfully correlated. In
the former USSR, the opposite seems to be the case. Failure in economic
transformation seems to have had a negative influence on democratization. In the
main, this has been explained by reference to gains in political power by
"winner" groups. These groups are said to be in position to block further
economic reform by undermining state power and autonomy. Consequently, the state
becomes a vehicle for the satisfaction of private interests, and the economy
does not become marketized, but "virtual," supporting value-subtracting
practices and economic sub-cultures that are remnants of Soviet practices and
belief systems. This virtual economy then further diminishes the likelihood of
democratization since it locks many citizens in to dependency on economic
elites. This chapter questions this argument. Using the case of Russia, it
argues that partial reform can be created by the state and its officers rather
than by winner groups, and that partial reform can be broken down. The
implications of this argument are that: 1) contingent political choices have
been more important in determining economic fortune than cultural factors;
2) changes to partial reform and virtual economy are possible since social
power. The chapter concludes by briefly considering the implications of these
arguments for post-Soviet political economy more generally.



"State Formation, Civil Society and Democratization: Comparing the Turkish
Experience with Mediterranean and East European Cases" by Fethi Acikel

Abstract:

In contrast to culturalist analyses of democratization, the question of
transition in post-authoritarian societies follows similar patterns of
development. In fact, in terms of emergence and dissolution of authoritarian
regimes and the birth of populist strategies in the Mediterranean and East
European societies, there are striking parallels with the Turkish case. Unlike
western democracies, those societies are plagued by various versions of
populism, clientelism and authoritarianism in the process of transition to
sustainable democracy and economic growth. Both the crises of nation building
and uneven development seem to have undermined fragile character of
democratization in those societies. In this article, through a comparative
historical sociological analysis, the author examines some striking parallels
and differences between the Turkish, the Mediterranean and East European cases.
In so doing, the article utilizes some historical and conceptual tools to
understand the processes of democratization and post-authoritarian politics.
Although main focus of the essay will be on Turkey, through paying attention to
various state traditions and capitalist growth strategies, the author attempts
to propose a non-culturalist framework for comparative analyses. Finally, this
essay locates the Turkish social formation in the co-ordinates of the
authoritarian Mediterranean regimes and bureaucratically centralized East
European societies.



Notes
Contributors
Index



Hayriye Kahveci
Research Assistant
Center for Black Sea and Central Asia, METU

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of International Relations, METU

Tel: + 90 312 210 30 51
Fax: + 90 312 210 30 51
Alternate email: hayriye.kahveci@gmail.com






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